Your opinion on the Rochester economy now and for the future. (co-op, job market)

[gt87]

Hi everyone,
As some of you may know from my past threads, my family and I are relocating to the Rochester area this summer as I will be attending RIT. The reason I started this thread was to get everyone's opinion on the Rochester economy/job market for not only now but in the years to come. We have visited the area many times over the past year and really believe it is a place we would like to make our permanent home. My only concern is being able to find a job after graduation as well as my wife finding a job. We will have a steady income for at least the next two years because I am a veteran and going to school with the GI Bill in which I receive a monthly housing and living allowance. I am willing to move after I graduate for a job but like I said, we really love the Rochester area and to be honest I am just sick of moving after being in the military. At RIT I will be majoring in New Media Marketing with a minor in web design and development and my wife already has a B.S. in Human resource management. How are our employment options? Thanks!

[OverTaxedInNY]

There are tons of media and advertising start-ups and already established firms, in fact CGI might be a company you'll want to look in to for a co-op or intern position, as well as a career opportunity when you graduate. As far as your wife, finding an HR gig around here shouldn't prove extremely difficult either.

[db2797]

I agree with OT's assessment above as well. New media seems to be an industry that is really starting to take off in Rochester. I seriously don't think you'd have problems finding a job in Rochester with the degree you're going for. I would also focus on mobile development along with your web design. Make sure you have the technical skills to develop and program web/mobile along with your media marketing skills and then you'll have two possible skill sets to look for jobs in. The technical jobs that are hands on development, and the marketing/media jobs that are more business orientated. With those skill sets you'll be in great shape. But I also agree with CGI. If you can get a co-op there while in school, that should set you up nicely for after graduation.

Other things to focus on in Rochester. There are so many groups that are heavily involved in networking, startups and having talks in Rochester. There is TEDX, NetPlex, AppRochester...etc. Join some of these groups or just attend a few meetings they have and above all just have some fun.

TEDxRochester
Join the Rochester, NY tech and startup community | NextPlex
https://approchester.wordpress.com/


I also just pulled a bunch of potential companies that I think would fit with your skills you are going to school for from the "Innovation District" website recently setup.

Rochester DIZ | Home

Accelerate Media
Web Developer

Adventive
Advertising Software

Bizwonk
Internet Marketing

Brand Networks
Social Media Marketing

Carpenter Consulting Group
Wireless Site Development

CGI Communications
Advertising

CloudSmartz
Network & Data Management

Cumulus Computing
Software Solutions

Dumbwaiter Design
Web Developer

Envative
Web Developer

Form Collective
Web Developer

Fusion Reactions
Branding & Mobile Gaming

I-Evolve Technology Services
Cloud Computing Services

Layer 8 Group
IT Services

Leveraging Technology Solutions
Business Efficiency

LMT Computer Systems
Technology Solutions

Netsville
Web Developer

Scriptable Solutions
Web Developer / Social Media

ShoreTel, Inc.
Unified Communications

The Animatus Studio
Animation Studio

We Make Nice Websites
Web Developer

Windstream
Telecommunications

[db2797]

Also for your wife, one huge option for HR is Paychex. They are basically a big giant HR outsourcing company. So there are tons of jobs there that fit the bill. Under careers, if you look under the "Customer Service/Operations" category, all those jobs are basically HR support jobs. THere is payroll specialists and HRS specialists that I think especially fit. What they do is to learn the Paychex products such as Payroll, 401k...etc, and then provide support to both reps and clients.

Job Opportunities

[gt87]

Wow that is great news. I had no idea Rochester was so "techy", thank you so much for all the info. This forum has been so helpful and has me feeling a whole lot better about our move to Rochester. At least about everything besides the weather and property taxes LOL. Thanks again.

[db2797]

Not a problem at all And actually there's two reasons why Rochester has had good luck creating a technology economy. First is that with the downfall of Kodak and somewhat of Xerox and Bausch and Lomb as well, it left many great scientists and engineers without jobs. A lot of them went on to start their own businesses and startups. There are a number of spin-off companies from Kodak for instance.

The second reason is with two really good science/healthcare/technology schools in Rochester, (UofR and RIT), it pretty much provides an infinite supply of great talent coming through Rochester. Now most probably won't stay in Rochester, but with the incubator programs, students that start sucessful startups are less likely to move their businesses once they start to have some success. So that's another source of building technology companies in the area.

[OverTaxedInNY]

Regarding Paychex, I'd caution your wife to look for jobs that are already kind of high up in the food chain, otherwise if she applies for an entry level position she's going to be stuck and miserable. My wife used to work there and still has friends that work there, all in entry to mid level jobs, and my wife was rarely happy and her friends that are still there say it's only getting worse. The pay is also lousy and typically quite stagnant. The only way I'd ever recommend anyone going to Paychex is if they already knew someone in the company and knew about the position they were interested in and could provide details regarding pay, upward mobility, and the overall attitude in that part of the company.

[gt87]

Thanks for the info in regards to paychex, ill keep that in mind

[JWRocks]

Originally Posted by gt87

Thanks for the info in regards to paychex, ill keep that in mind

Also keep in mind that Paychex's entire business model depends on a strong economy and lot's of new small businesses. Like any good business they can only pay based on the revenue coming in. From my point of view, Paychex has always been a class act. They consistently add about 300 new jobs to Rochester annually, and the company founder contributes about $20 million in one form or another to the community of Rochester, be it a hospital wing or an educational building at one of our universities.

[colton821]

I work at Paychex and I think there are some generalizations about the company that probably need to die. It was always known as a very "stuffy" place in the past in regards to culture, dress etc. But they have really worked to change that. Dress is your typical business causal now. Used to be suits for all men. They offer flexible scheduling which is very nice (Four 10 hour days, come in early, leave early etc) and work from home. They have terrific benefits that are as good as any company I've been with.

I will say, most people I work with are quite happy. I'm sure much of it depends on where in the company you land. But it's certainly a good place to work. I see people getting promoted constantly, so I'm just not sure where some of those comments come from. It may be confined to a very specific area or department.